Akita karu tomade ugoku nari shiratsuyu shi oku hoda nashi to tsuge ni kinurashi

秋田刈る苫手動くなり白露し
置く穂田なしと告げに来ぬらし

Roma-ji: Akita karu tomade ugoku nari shiratsuyu shi oku hoda nashi to tsuge ni kinurashi
English Translation: Reaping autumn fields,
the hut's thatched mats seem to stir;
the silver dew, it seems,
"There are no fields of ears left
for me to lie on," comes to say.
Meaning: The rush mats of the hut for reaping the autumn fields seem to stir—the white dew must have come to tell us there are no more ripe fields for it to settle on.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2176

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Dew"
This poem imagines the stirring of the rush mats of the harvest hut as the white dew coming to announce that no fields of ripe ears remain for it to settle on, and it closes the dew group. The personifying idea that the end of the harvest is announced by dew that has lost its place to rest is delightful. The kundoku carries a variant for the last line, "tsuge ni kurashi mo." Continuing from the preceding poems, it links dew with farm work.

The first line, "reaping the autumn fields," is the same opening as 2174.
In the second line, "tomade ugoku nari," "toma" is a covering woven of sedge or reeds and "nari" marks hearsay; the poem breaks here.
In the third line, "shiratsuyu shi," "shi" is an emphatic particle.
The fourth line, "that there are no ripe fields to settle on," shows the harvest is done.
In the last line, "tsuge ni kinurashi," "rashi" marks grounded inference, closing with the fancy that the dew has come to tell.
Source: Manyoshu
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